As Every Star Is Destroyed
by myshipsaresunk
Summary: Wanda Maximoff lost everything. Everything. And one doesn't simply recover from that. One-Shot.


Disclaimer: Avenger: Age of Ultron belongs to ...I give them all the credit, as this is simply a work of fiction and not meant to break any copyright laws or for any personal gain.

Rating: T

Author's Note: The Maximoffs quicky became my favourite characters in AoU and I was deeply saddened by (spoiler alert) Pietro's death. It reminded me of Dean and Sam Winchester and how they react whenever the other dies, so I was inspired to write this. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Galaxies explode deep in space, light years away. Life turns to ash, to dust. The dust is scattered across billions of miles, landing on planets, stars, or it just simply stays floating. Maybe it is sucked into a black hole, from which it never returns.

Those galaxies were once filled with living beings. Those beings had consciousnesses, they had life, they had jobs.

They had a _purpose._

And yet, when the galaxy explodes and they die, they were not able to fulfill their life's purpose. They were taken before they could complete their jobs. Their destiny, everything they lived for, had been taken from them in the blink of an eye. Now they and their purpose are scattered around, floating to nowhere to do nothing.

Stars explode, too. Beautiful, light bringing stars can be destroyed, their essence scattered.

What does it matter? When your life's purpose is taken from you, when everything you were is stolen, and when the beautiful stars in your life are destroyed, what do you do? What can you do when you've lost yourself? When you've lost your way?

She once had a family. All but one of them had been killed. The remaining one is her older brother, and she knows his purpose in life is to watch over her, to keep her safe. But what he doesn't know is that her purpose is to protect him, too. They are family, so they watch out for each other through thick and thin, as long as they live.

He is her star, her comet, her everything. As she is for him. But as all stars explode and all galaxies turn to dust, so does he turn back to the ashes from whence he came.

* * *

Even as she stands near the core, protecting it miles away from her brother, she can feel it. Feel the sudden absence and the pain, as if a part of her has been suddenly ripped away.

It turns out to be much, much worse.

For it has not been a part of her that has left, it is her brother, her twin, the one who's been with her since they were little. They are the most important things in each other's lives, and now he has been taken from her.

Pain consumes her, and with that hurt comes rage. Rage like she has never felt before, not even as she saw her parent's bodies. Power surges up in accordance and as she falls to her knees she releases the red power from her hands, power that is as red as her anger. Power as crimson as the blood that stains his corpse.

All of Ultron's minions around her are vaporized or torn apart, but it does nothing to help the gaping wound where her heart once had taken up residence. She can barely concentrate over the pain and anger bubbling up in her mind.

 _He is gone,_ she tells herself, over and over again. _My Pietro, gone. Gone like the winds that scour the plains, gone like the weaker humans who underwent Von Strucker's experiments. Gone like the stars that are exploding light years away from us. He is gone, and I am left._

She does not want to be left. Pietro is her older brother, the one who looked out for her, the one who made jokes and held her close. Pietro's safety had been her life's purpose. She had to watch out for him, had to protect him. She failed the one job life had assigned her.

Pietro is gone, and Wanda Maximoff knows exactly who killed him.

* * *

She may not be able to bring Pietro back, but she can avenge him. She is an Avenger, after all. The part that really tears her up is that Ultron is a robot, and A1, artificial intellegince. He has nothing to lose, nothing to torture him with. How can she exact revenge against him? How can she make him understand the depths of his evil when he cannot love?

Her body takes over as she find him. She stands in front of him, rage and red boiling over. Her eyes are not her own. She has lost herself. Violence has become a part of her now, and she uses it as she stares Ultron down.

"You'll die," the A1 says, smug as usual. He knows that even if he is defeated he has, and will continue, to take down more with him.

"I just did," she seethes. Her voice hardens and drops in volume. "Do you know what it felt like?" Her voice is laced with grief and sorrow.

There is fear in his robot eyes as she reaches into his vibranium chest and rips out his heart.

What an appropriate way to die. He took away everything from her, including her heart. It is only fair she pays him back in similar fashion. But it is not as satisfying as she thought it would be, for his emotions can never reach the depths of her love for Pietro.

The rage is gone, and all that is left is emptiness. Numbness. Everything she is or ever was has left, and she must rebuild.

* * *

The team finds her sitting with blank eyes. She is gone. Her purpose in life had been to watch out for her brother, and when he died, she had taken up another purpose: vengeance. Now it is all said and done, and she has nothing. They cannot help her, for she can only help herself, and she does not want to. She wants her brother back. She yearns for vengence. They started it, didn't they? And yet, she cannot bring herself to hurt them. They've already been hurt too many times. She's seen it in their eyes, and in their heads. They've all lost just as much as she has.

But none of them fully understand her pain. They don't understand what it is like to have their meaning stripped from them, to have everything taken away from them. As long as the world was in danger they had a purpose. She? She had been bred to _destroy_ the world. To destroy them.

But they all found another purpose. She cannot, for there is nothing left. Nothing worth living for.

* * *

Galaxies explode and stars dissipate, and she stands above it all, watching it happen. Watching as everyone she loves dies. Watching as her purpose is leached away from herself. As she watches the tragedy unfold beneath her she dies again and again. Looking down at herself, she sees her skin turning pale and cracking, then turning to ash and blowing away.

Soon there is nothing left of her except that which is floating in space, trying to reconnect and find purpose. For what is the use of living if you have no purpose? Is it worth being immortal only to have no destiny?

Wanda Maximoff had a star, an angel, by her side her whole life. But he had been more than just a star, though no one but her could be able to understand. He had been the only meaning to her life. Now he is gone, and all she can do is pray for him to return, for she loves him and he loves her, and one day they will be together again. And they will never leave each other, for no one will be able to take them away. Once again it will just be them against the world, just like she so desperately needs. She needs him to have meaning, so he must come again.

Yes, she needs Pietro. She's always needed him. He had been her leader, her north star, her foundation. So how will she continue on?

Only time can tell.


End file.
